Debra Messing is Messy, Loud, and Wrong

The Will and Grace Actress Attacked Nina Turner Without Checking Her Facts.

Debra Messing coming for Nina Turner should be a concern for those who claim to care about how Black women are treated in the public sphere. Debra Messing (or whoever is running her Twitter) is just messy and clearly ignorant. Whether you agree with or like Nina Turner (or anyone else for that matter) to start from a place of loud ignorance that is both demeaning and belittling is racist. Plain and simple.

What is your problem? Don’t ever think you can come for me. Watch the clip. The premise of @jaketapper question to me was about civil liberties in a global context not just the current situation with Cohen/Trump. Moreover, you don’t tell me what to say or think. @CNNSotu

Right now all over the country, we are demanding that Black women be supported and lifted up, and that extends to women like Nina Turner. Nina does not need to fall in line and smile and bow for the likes of Debra Messing. Debra Messing is clearly having a Miss Millie moment and needs a gut check quick.

Like Tom Watson before her, Debra Messing aka Miss Debbie has a problem with independent Black thinkers speaking their minds and raising their voices. To her credit, Nina Turner has graciously endured these tirades and the attempts to undermine her since turning away from the Clinton camp ahead of the 2016 primary. Nina has become a mainstay in progressive spaces and has built a following based on the strength of her own voice and platform.

Providing nuanced critique to questions and hypotheticals posed in the course of conversation is not to be misconstrued and distorted by the likes of Miss Debbie. Her lack of understanding of the value of good political conversation is part and parcel of the problem with the Democratic Party.

Part of the losses felt the last several years culminating in 2016 is directly related to an inability to connect with real-world implications of issues and fixating on one singular person or instance. “Bush bad!” didn’t work and unfortunately, neither will “Trump bad!”.

Miss Debbie should pontificate less on Twitter and just uplift good people doing the work across the country. She will do far better producing direct support for voter contact efforts than harassing independent black leaders like Nina on social media.

Quite honestly it doesn’t matter what platform we are on if the message and messenger are not deemed acceptable by elites. Miss Debbie is part of a deeper problem in Democratic spaces, one that will not be resolved overnight. As Freeborn Black people we will continue to raise our voices in the manner we see fit and in the forums which we deem receptive to our presence.

Nina doesn’t need us to stand up for her as she can handle it herself. Standing up for Nina is standing up for those of us who provide commentary and dare to speak in defiance of the status quo. Everything about Nina Turner demands respect and nothing else. Miss Debbie needs to step back and have several seats because she’s dead ass wrong on this one.

Mom 1st, Lawyer 2nd. Anoa Changa is Director of Political Advocacy and a Managing Editor of Progressive Army, as well as a member of its Editorial Board. She hosts The Way with Anoa, Wednesdays at 9pm ET on YouTube . Follow her on Twitter @TheWayWithAnoa. "Never tell me the odds." - Han Solo

Is no-one allowed to criticize a dumb comment from another person if they’re skin color is darker? Nina has totally over-reacted and doubled down on a very silly comment. She should apologize to Debra & stop acting like a child. This is NOT reflecting well on Our Revolution or Bernie either. In addition, when you cry “racism” over ordinary discourse you are in effect saying POC are not to be treated the same as other people which is detrimental to POC. And finally, calling legitimate criticism “racism” diminishes REAL acts of racism & serves to water down their significance. So… Read more »

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10 months ago

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Telisha Conklin

So I do agree with you that Nina should apologize. Debbie was dead wrong about the content of what Nina said. She was saying that we need to be careful with one’s civil liberties, not that this was the case with Cohen, just that it was a slippery slope. That being said she said the FBI has been known to infringe on people’s right namely people of color. I do not think Debbie was being racist she was just wrong and Nina called her out on it. This columnist brought race into it not Nina. Nina reflects the values of… Read more »

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10 months ago

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Telisha Conklin

Do not agree with you. LOL. Typo…

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10 months ago

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Chris Traynor

Wait, let’s go up for a higher view. Are you saying that certain people just deserve respect and a friction-free environment regardless of the view being stated? Do you believe some people either achieve (or are somehow bestowed) a position where their “glow” affords them a “pass” from others (regardless of skin color or any other quality that results in separation?

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10 months ago

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Will J

Where does she say that? Obviously to anyone who actually watched the segment that Turner was on can see that what Miss Messy said was not correct, intentionally or not.

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10 months ago

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aimee

What a ridiculous argument. Be truthful, this is about someone criticizing Nina Turner and nothing more. There’s no there to your debate. Turner said and says ridiculous stuff on the regular and she’s enormously thinned skin at that.

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10 months ago

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Will J

What she said was wrong though. And exactly what has she said that is ridiculous?

This is pure bs. Debra has every right to go after Nina or anyone else. Ms. Turner is a public figure who can and should be criticized and taken to account. Nina is a fraud. A vindictive, vengeful hack whose only purpose is revenge against a party that left her behind because she had nothing to offer. Nina does NOT get a pass. Sorry.

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